What can 48 hours of game design and coding produce? A text-based survival horror game apparently. When I say “text-based” I don’t mean roguelike (that’s Zero Day, folks). I’m talking Zork.

A team of four from New York produced this gem, entitled “From A to Z and Back Again”, in two days for the Global Game Jam, held January 30 to Feburary 1. At first you might think “What the hell?”. Don’t worry, that thought will pass, to be replaced with a general feeling of awesomeness and a tingle in your pants that roughly translates to “Damn it man, play it now!”.

I thought 7 days was hardcore when I wrote Zafehouse. 48 hours is madness. Mind you, Zafehouse was a solo effort, so I don’t feel so bad.

I haven’t had a chance to play AtoZ myself, but when I get home I’ll give it a go and compose my impressions. For now, you can grab it from Global Game Jam site. Note you’ll need a Z-Machine interpreter; there’s a list of Windows versions here, though a buttload for other platforms can be found at the same link.

Sweet Success, Fascinating Failure: 48 Sleepless Hours at Global Game Jam [Wired]

~ by Logan on February 9, 2009.

Posted in Game design

Tags: global game jam, infocom, survival horror, text adventures, z-machine, Zombies, zork